Tag Archives: social studies lessons

With all the hype about the current presidential election, I wanted to find useful resources that could aid in class discussion. Below outlines different focuses and activities that you can follow as you discuss the election and the results with your class.

Focus 1: Rights and Responsibilities

We started by discussing the rights and responsibilities of each citizen in the United States. We started the lesson by watching the BrainPop video. We then made a poster and gave examples of different rights and responsibilities. Later, students completed a chart on their own and had to sort examples given into the appropriate category. We noticed and explained how voting is considered both a right and responsibility.

Focus 2: What does it mean to be a good citizen?

There are many ways to be a good citizen. Students gave examples and acted out different scenarios. Then, students wrote about ways they are a good citizen. I used Education World and Education.com as a resource for classroom activities. For videos, I used Discovery Education and for articles, I referenced Pebble Go.

Focus 3: Debate and Voting

We talked about the presidential election and discussed the following words: moderator, debate, candidate, questions, majority, voting, and election. Students did a matching activity and drew pictures of the meaning of each vocabulary word. Some students used each word in a sentence or a short story. We then hosted a mock debate where the teachers debated if students should be given homework. Students then had to vote for the person they wanted to represent their point of view.